Skip to main content

Day 27 - Arriving to Big Bend

Dear Family and Friends, Welcome to my shiny new Road Trip Daily blog. Here you can find day-by-day posts from my trip (swipe left and right to go quickly between days in mobile view) and if you are on a family google group or the new Road Trip Daily blog-specific google group then you will receive automatic daily updates in your email inbox!  Technology.. So cool. Do let me know if you aren't receiving messages or the blog isn't working. 

So on to today: Ten hours was the time it would take me to drive to Big Bend National Park in the far southwest corner of Texas. I had wanted badly to visit Big Bend but since it was six hours out of the way, I had left it off the original itinerary, instead sticking near El Paso for White Sands, Guadalupe Mountains, and Carslbad Caverns. But since my detour to Chiricahua was so successful and the weather ideal in Big Bend, I decided to go for it. 

Good decision. I arrived to Big Bend by 6pm and sped down a winding 30-mile scenic road (pic 1) to Cottonwood campground near the Rio Grande River. Finding a campsite is priority number one when I arrive to a park and since most are first-come-first-serve arriving late is not good. But I called ahead and new that Cottonwood would have availability. 


After a while I saw towering cliffs in front of me and was bewildered. They were huge in the distance and seemed almost unnatural and out of place. I assumed the road was winding east west or north as I knew the river was south and thought the mountains couldn't be by the river. But then I remembered some pictures of Big Bend and hey!  that's the Rio Grande. The Wall-Game of Thrones style between the U.S. and Mexico. As you got closer the wall dominated the skyline. It was a site to behold. See pic. 


After securing my campsite, I drove six more miles to one of the park highlights: the Santa Elena canyon-- 1500 foot and narrow canyon walls from the south entering from Mexico. This is an infamous white water rafting river section because there is an impossible rocks section. The park has a mile hike into the canyon and I arrived at dusk and crossed the river into the canyon just as the darkness was setting in. Then I hiked out at night with my headlamp and drove back and slept-- happy to have made it this far south. 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 170 - JMT Forrester Pass

The mountains had a surreal glow this morning as we climbed up towards the 13,200 foot high Forrester Pass.  One of the wonderful things about the mountains is that they change appearance as the sun changes height, creating a movie-like experience as you walk. I felt so free and happy this morning--just in love with this light.  After sixty minutes of walking, we stopped in the first sunny spot we could find to thaw out and rest. Another hiker came bustling up the trail behind us and stopped at the sunspot to shed a layer of clothing. Sly was a Canadian hiker, just turned 40, who seemed happy to see us. We struck up a conversation about travels and when we pushed off Sly asked if he could join us. We said yes of course. We hiked quickly up the trail, reaching a high plateau with epic alpine views. Selfie time! We skirted around a high alpine lake and then went up a ridge line ever further higher. We were at 12,000+ feet now and the world began to look small y...
1 comment
Read more

Day 62 - Colorado National Monument

Established as a national monument early in 1911, Colorado NM is known for its high canyon "rim road" and sandstone spires of Monument Canyon.  The canyons of west Colorado are pretty--as they have more green trees and shrubs than the more famous Utah canyons. This gives them a more alive feeling, although the sandstone spires were formed many thousands of years ago by erosion.  Rim Rock road curves up the the top of the canyon cliff, goes through several round tunnels and is lined with scenic viewpoints. The best views were in he Monument Canyon section, and included in sequence, the Coke Ovens, The Kissing Couple (behind my head), and the most famous of all: Independence Monument, the tall spire in pic 3 and viewed from the side in pic 4.  The original promoter and caretaker of the park, John Otto, was the first person to climb Independence Monument and now it's a climbing right of passage. Every July 4 climbers ascend and mount an American flag at the summit. Fun! ...
2 comments
Read more

Day 82 - Yellowstone to Montana

My alarm sounded at 5:30am, a time early enough for me to arise before someone found me secretly camping. The geyser prediction said Grand at 6:15am so I set out toward it.  I ran into geyser gazer Jim there and he said it likely erupted at 4:30-- missed it. Early morning eruptions are hard to predict as someone needed to have seen the previous overnight eruption in order to make a prediction. I walked on toward Artemesia, an unpredictable geyser at the far corner of the basin. I had seen her erupt from a mile away and wanted a closer inspection. The early morning setting was momentous, yet I didn't see a geyser erupt up close until Grand at 10:30.  Then Sawmill erupted with its twirling thirty foot action (pic).   The only remaining geyser left to experience on my mental list was Beehive up close. With a predicted window of 810 to 1210, I arrived at 1030 and waited until 1pm, before giving up. The sun was hot, I had read the geyser book cover to cover, and while seeing e...
Post a Comment
Read more